Dean Pees is now the defensive coordinator of the Tennessee Titans. Don Martindale now has a chance to give the Baltimore Ravens defense a fresh start:
The Baltimore Ravens promoted Don Martindale to be their next defensive coordinator. The Ravens wanted to stay in the same system, which makes a lot of sense. The Ravens have a huge amount of talent at the outside linebacker positions. Terrell Suggs and Matt Judon are good standing up linebackers on the edge and that’s not something the Ravens should tinker with. The Ravens have space eaters on the defensive line, not pass rushers. A 4-3 defense wouldn’t make sense and it’s not like Baltimore has to reinvent the wheel.
Martindale has a lot going for him. He has a ton of talent in the front seven. Eric Weddle and Tony Jefferson are talented players in the back end. Marlon Humphrey is quickly becoming an elite cornerback and Jimmy Smith is very much an elite cornerback when healthy. The Ravens defense wasn’t bad under Dean Pees, they just had a tendency to give up a lead in a crucial situation. If you’ve read my work in the past you know how I feel about this. That was signature Dean Pees, it was his fault.
The Ravens have the talent, they need to use it right:
Martindale could be a fresh start for the Ravens. The biggest beneficiary of the coordinator change might end up being Tony Jefferson. Jefferson is a great strong safety but he has to be used according to his skill set. Jefferson plays his best football closer to the tackle box. He is athletic but his coverage skills don’t stretch down the field. He’s not a free safety. In other words he isn’t an Earl Thomas with boundless range, he’s a Kam Chancellor.
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The fix for the Ravens defense is pretty simple. If Martindale is the more aggressive coordinator that we have been promised, then he probably agrees with me. The defense has two very tough cornerbacks in Jimmy Smith and Marlon Humphrey (and behind that a very good Tavon Young and Maurice Cannady). Martindale needs to let them do their thing on the outside and let Jefferson be an enforcer on the short and intermediate routes. Throw in a bit more when it comes to blitzing and the defense can go from good to unbelievably good.
The Ravens had been obsessed with the idea of keeping offenses in front of them in the Pees era. The result was a tentative defense that gave up too much when it mattered most. Martindale may have a different philosophy. A different game plan could make all the difference. It certainly would be nice to throw something at Ben Roethlisberger that he hasn’t seen 1,000 times before.
The Bottom Line:
Martindale has to prove that he deserves the job. We’ll see how it goes. One thing is for sure, the Ravens needed to be done with Pees. Ravens fans should welcome in a new defensive coordinator. The same system and the same players can get different results, as long as Martindale provides the new beginning the Ravens are searching for.
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When the 2018 season starts fans will get their first glimpse of Martindale’s defense. For that, the Ravens have reason to be optimistic. Ravens fans may have wanted Chuck Pagano back, but what they got may work out just fine.